Latest news with #Lavallee
Toronto Star
03-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Star
Hudson's Bay Company records give public chance to ‘reconnect' with ancestors
WINNIPEG - Dyana Lavallee stares at a copy of a photograph on display to the public at the Hudson's Bay Company Archives in Winnipeg. The Metis woman quickly recognizes it as the same one her grandmother had years ago. 'This is my family,' she said referring to the figures in the picture. 'I'm actually shaking a bit.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW It's not the first time Lavallee has visited the archives, but it is the first time she's seen that photo among the thousands of historical documents that are housed at the Archives of Manitoba. The collection, which is owned by the province, features items including the company's first minutes book from 1671, historical maps, videos, audio recordings and so many diaries, letters and research notes that the textual records alone take up more than 1,500 linear metres of shelf space. Hudson's Bay donated the collection to the province in 1994. On Friday, the archives opened its doors to the public to celebrate the 355th anniversary of the company's beginnings, and as North America's oldest corporation is facing its demise. Hudson's Bay filed for creditor protection in March after it could no longer pay its bills due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, an intensifying trade war and depressed store traffic. Amid store liquidation and a hunt for buyers for the business and its assets, the company has been given permission by an Ontario judge to auction off the 4,400 artifacts and art pieces in its possession, including the 355-year-old royal charter that launched the company. None of the items in the provincial archives are included in the auction. Since news of The Bay's plans to auction artifacts, archivists, historians and First Nations groups have been calling for the pieces to be returned to Indigenous nations or be given to public institutions where they will be available for all to see. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Lavallee, who works in the Manitoba Metis Federation's Culture and Heritage department, agrees. 'It doesn't make sense to me to lock someone else's history away for personal use,' she said. 'It helps people reconnect with their ancestry. It gives them answers to their past.' Lavallee has been able to use the Hudson's Bay Company Archives to learn more about her ancestor James Bird, a high-ranking officer with the company who was born in England and settled in what is now known as Canada. Kathleen Epp has seen the value in making records accessible to the public. 'There are different questions asked of the records every year, so they stay alive in a way,' said Epp, who is the keeper of the province's Hudson's Bay Company Archives. 'People come with questions that (the company) never would have envisioned when they created the records, and they find value in whatever they're studying and in the answers that they find.' Not only has Epp seen the records used to trace genealogy, but also to study climate change because trading posts often recorded the weather, and animal populations were tracked by visiting and documenting trap lines. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Epp and her team are working to breathe new life into the company's records on Indigenous Peoples. The archives include photographs from Nunavut and Northwest Territories, and the team is trying to identify the people taken in the historical photos. There are also account books that document trading with Indigenous Peoples. 'Those account books often give the names of people but also it may be the Indigenous name or it may show how names changed over time,' she said. 'There's actually quite a lot of genealogical information there for people to trace their families but also to trace names.' First Nations groups have asked for a halt to the auction so that cultural, ceremonial or sacred items in The Bay's collection may be returned to the communities that they belong to. The Bay is expected to return to court at a later date to detail exactly what items beyond the royal charter it wants to sell and how the auction process will unfold.
Winnipeg Free Press
02-05-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Hudson's Bay Company records give public chance to 'reconnect' with ancestors
WINNIPEG – Dyana Lavallee stares at a copy of a photograph on display to the public at the Hudson's Bay Company Archives in Winnipeg. The Metis woman quickly recognizes it as the same one her grandmother had years ago. 'This is my family,' she said referring to the figures in the picture. 'I'm actually shaking a bit.' It's not the first time Lavallee has visited the archives, but it is the first time she's seen that photo among the thousands of historical documents that are housed at the Archives of Manitoba. The collection, which is owned by the province, features items including the company's first minutes book from 1671, historical maps, videos, audio recordings and so many diaries, letters and research notes that the textual records alone take up more than 1,500 linear metres of shelf space. Hudson's Bay donated the collection to the province in 1994. On Friday, the archives opened its doors to the public to celebrate the 355th anniversary of the company's beginnings, and as North America's oldest corporation is facing its demise. Hudson's Bay filed for creditor protection in March after it could no longer pay its bills due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, an intensifying trade war and depressed store traffic. Amid store liquidation and a hunt for buyers for the business and its assets, the company has been given permission by an Ontario judge to auction off the 4,400 artifacts and art pieces in its possession, including the 355-year-old royal charter that launched the company. None of the items in the provincial archives are included in the auction. Since news of The Bay's plans to auction artifacts, archivists, historians and First Nations groups have been calling for the pieces to be returned to Indigenous nations or be given to public institutions where they will be available for all to see. Lavallee, who works in the Manitoba Metis Federation's Culture and Heritage department, agrees. 'It doesn't make sense to me to lock someone else's history away for personal use,' she said. 'It helps people reconnect with their ancestry. It gives them answers to their past.' Lavallee has been able to use the Hudson's Bay Company Archives to learn more about her ancestor James Bird, a high-ranking officer with the company who was born in England and settled in what is now known as Canada. Kathleen Epp has seen the value in making records accessible to the public. 'There are different questions asked of the records every year, so they stay alive in a way,' said Epp, who is the keeper of the province's Hudson's Bay Company Archives. 'People come with questions that (the company) never would have envisioned when they created the records, and they find value in whatever they're studying and in the answers that they find.' Not only has Epp seen the records used to trace genealogy, but also to study climate change because trading posts often recorded the weather, and animal populations were tracked by visiting and documenting trap lines. Epp and her team are working to breathe new life into the company's records on Indigenous Peoples. The archives include photographs from Nunavut and Northwest Territories, and the team is trying to identify the people taken in the historical photos. There are also account books that document trading with Indigenous Peoples. 'Those account books often give the names of people but also it may be the Indigenous name or it may show how names changed over time,' she said. 'There's actually quite a lot of genealogical information there for people to trace their families but also to trace names.' First Nations groups have asked for a halt to the auction so that cultural, ceremonial or sacred items in The Bay's collection may be returned to the communities that they belong to. The Bay is expected to return to court at a later date to detail exactly what items beyond the royal charter it wants to sell and how the auction process will unfold. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 2, 2025.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Yahoo
Wapak man who suffered stroke while driving to serve jail time
Mar. 14—WAPAKONETA — A 71-year-old Wapakoneta man who caused a fatal car crash when he suffered a stroke while driving last February will spend seven days in jail. David H. Lavallee pleaded no contest to a single count of vehicular manslaughter, a second-degree misdemeanor, in Auglaize County Municipal Court Friday for his role in causing a five-car crash that killed Joseph Ingram. Prosecutors dismissed one count of aggravated vehicular homicide, a first-degree misdemeanor, in exchange for Lavallee's no contest plea. Defense attorney Rafael Villegas called it a "complicated" and "tragic" situation as he alleged his client suffered a stroke shortly before the crash. Assistant Prosecutor Laia Zink agreed the case is "difficult," but asked the court to "balance" those considerations against Ingram's death and Lavallee's speed at the time of the crash — nearly twice the posted speed limit. The five-car crash occurred on Bellefontaine Street in Wapakoneta at the Interstate 75 overpass on Feb. 26, 2024. A crash report from the Wapakoneta Police Department alleges Lavallee was traveling westbound on Bellefontaine Street when his 2008 Cadillac sideswiped another vehicle. Lavallee reportedly then failed to stop for a traffic signal at the intersection of Bellefontaine Street and Apollo Drive, striking the rear of a vehicle driven by Joseph Ingram, who succumbed to his injuries. Ingram's vehicle pushed into the rear of another vehicle, which in turn struck another car. Lavallee suffered no injuries, but his wife and an occupant from another vehicle were transported to local hospitals. Tricia Lavallee told the court she unbuckled her seatbelt and tried to turn off the car's engine when she noticed her husband unconscious behind the wheel, but Lavallee's foot was on the accelerator. Lavallee is "incredibly remorseful," Villegas said as he asked the court to sentence Lavallee to house arrest in lieu of jail so Lavallee can monitor his health and watch after his wife, who broke both her arms and legs in the crash and now struggles to sit or walk. Zink reduced her sentencing recommendation from 30 days to one week of jail time followed by house arrest at the request of Ingram's family. She asked the court to suspend Lavallee's license for one year as well. Judge Andrew Augsburger called the case a "tremendous tragedy," but said he could not ignore Lavallee's speed — almost double the posted speed limit at the time of the crash. "I have to look at all of the facts," he said. Augsburger sentenced Lavallee to seven days in the Auglaize County Correctional Institution followed by three weeks of house arrest and one year of unsupervised community control. Lavallee's sentence includes a 90-day suspended jail term if he violates probation, as well as a $250 fine and one-year suspension of his driver's license. A civil lawsuit is pending to determine Lavallee's restitution to Ingram's family. Featured Local Savings
